One typically can understand by simple sights and sounds, the big air of difference between Southern Indian with rest of the parts of the country. The basic culture of south is essentially Dravidian culture, quite different from North India's Indo - East European culture. The people of South would remain down to earth, calm inspite of excellent talents. They respect every other's religion and sentiments unlike their Northern neighbours. Historians and Scholars across the world have always admired the culture and language of South India.

One typically can understand by simple sights and sounds, the big air of difference between Southern Indian with rest of the parts of the country. The basic culture of south is essentially Dravidian culture, quite different from North India's Indo - East European culture. The people of South would remain down to earth, calm inspite of excellent talents. They respect every other's religion and sentiments unlike their Northern neighbours. Historians and Scholars across the world have always admired the culture and language of South India.

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The South India has a glorious history of more than 3000 years years. With advent of Aryan civilization in early BC centuries, much of the Dravidian civilizations (said to be even base for Indus Valley civilization) resided to southern India, which soon became a major Dravidian bastion. Though Hinduism remained as the invisible thread that connected North and South, much of the culture and outlook remained entirely different with both parts of the country, thanks the mighty Vindhya Ranges that could successfully prevent Northern cultural dominance into south untill Medieval periods.

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The South India has a glorious history of more than 3000 years. With advent of Aryan civilization in early BC centuries, much of the Dravidian civilizations (said to be even base for Indus Valley civilization) resided to southern India, which soon became a major Dravidian bastion. Though Hinduism remained as the invisible thread that connected North and South, much of the culture and outlook remained entirely different with both parts of the country, thanks the mighty Vindhya Ranges that could successfully prevent Northern cultural dominance into south untill Medieval periods.

The ancient history of South India was much attributed to large empires like the Hoysalas, Chalukyas, Gangas, Kadambas, Chola, Pandya and Chera, all hailing from similar roots. Whereas Cholas were more famous through its large empires, cultural monuments and navy which brought much of South East Asia under its domination, the popularity of other houses, Chera and Pandiyas were nevertheless. Cheras ruled much of the modern Kerala was extremely popular through its extensive trading relations with West, particularly Roman and Greek Empires as well as with Egyptians. Pandiyas were renowned for their cultural achievements, concenrated much of Southern Tamil Nadu. Towards early AD Centuries, several other Hindu Dynasties like Chalukyas, Vijayanagar Empire, Pallavas etc scrambled much of the Southern peninsula barring Kerala, which remained under Cheras.

The ancient history of South India was much attributed to large empires like the Hoysalas, Chalukyas, Gangas, Kadambas, Chola, Pandya and Chera, all hailing from similar roots. Whereas Cholas were more famous through its large empires, cultural monuments and navy which brought much of South East Asia under its domination, the popularity of other houses, Chera and Pandiyas were nevertheless. Cheras ruled much of the modern Kerala was extremely popular through its extensive trading relations with West, particularly Roman and Greek Empires as well as with Egyptians. Pandiyas were renowned for their cultural achievements, concenrated much of Southern Tamil Nadu. Towards early AD Centuries, several other Hindu Dynasties like Chalukyas, Vijayanagar Empire, Pallavas etc scrambled much of the Southern peninsula barring Kerala, which remained under Cheras.

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Towards Medieval periods, Vijayanagar Empire became one of the largest empires covering two thirds of South India, particularly Karnataka and Andhara Pradesh with its capital at Hampi. The frequent attacks of Sultans of Delhi and other Northern Muslim states, slowly weakened the great Vijayanagara Empire, disintegrating it, giving raise of several Muslim states modelled on Northern Mughal styles in south. The growth of Portuguese, Dutch and other European powers, made South India, one of the major bases for European powers to fight for its share, in which British emerged victorious. British started their expansion into India setting up its base in Madras (Chennai) and slowly grew into a major power all over India. Barring a few Kingdoms like Travancore, Kochi, Mysore, Hyderabad and Coorg, most of the south Indian area came under British dominance by end of 19th century.

Towards Medieval periods, Vijayanagar Empire became one of the largest empires covering two thirds of South India, particularly Karnataka and Andhara Pradesh with its capital at Hampi. The frequent attacks of Sultans of Delhi and other Northern Muslim states, slowly weakened the great Vijayanagara Empire, disintegrating it, giving raise of several Muslim states modelled on Northern Mughal styles in south. The growth of Portuguese, Dutch and other European powers, made South India, one of the major bases for European powers to fight for its share, in which British emerged victorious. British started their expansion into India setting up its base in Madras (Chennai) and slowly grew into a major power all over India. Barring a few Kingdoms like Travancore, Kochi, Mysore, Hyderabad and Coorg, most of the south Indian area came under British dominance by end of 19th century.

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After Independence, South India remained one of the major economic powerhouse for the nation. Most of the south Indian cities are reputed for various industrial bases. The growth of IT in cities like Bangalore,Hyderabad,Kochi, Trivandrum, Textiles in Coimbatore, Auto-manufacturing in Chennai, Tourism & economy in Kerala, makes South Indian states to race much ahead than North, in terms of economic prosperity and overall social development.

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After Independence, South India remained one of the major economic powerhouse for the nation. Most of the south Indian cities are reputed for various industrial bases. The growth of the IT industry in cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Trivandrum, textiles in Coimbatore, Auto-manufacturing in Chennai, and Tourism and economy in Kerala, have contributed to the success of the South, and has propelled it as the leading region of the country.

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==Talk==

==Talk==

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==Get in==

==Get in==

===By plane===

===By plane===

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South India has more international airports than rest of India with regular connections to almost every corner of the world. [[Chennai]] is the main air gateway into southern India, fielding flights from all over the world.[[Bangalore]] International Airport,[[Kochi]]international airport and [[Thiruvananthapuram]] International Airport are other airports after Chennai along with and has regular connections from Middle East and South East Asia as well as popular tourist oriented charters. Recently with opening of new Terminal [[Hyderabad]] Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, air connections to almost major parts of the world is ensured. Other popular options are , [[Kozhikode]] Airport, [[Trichy]] Airport, [[Mangalore]] Airport and [[Coimbatore]] Airport.

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South India has more international airports than rest of India with regular connections to almost every corner of the world. [[Hyderabad]] & [[Chennai]] are the major air gateways into southern India, fielding flights from all over the world.[[Bangalore]] International Airport,[[Kochi]] international airport and [[Thiruvananthapuram]] International Airport are other airports after Chennai along with and has regular connections from Middle East and South East Asia as well as popular tourist oriented charters. Other popular options are , [[Kozhikode]] Airport, [[Trichy]] Airport, [[Mangalore]] Airport and [[Coimbatore]] Airport.

==Get around==

==Get around==

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South India's '''Dravidian''' architecture is quite different from the rest of India. The most obvious, and often striking, feature is the '''''gopuram''''' perched on every temple entrance, a stepped, steeply rising pyramid carved with layer upon layer upon layer of fantastically detailed and brightly painted statues.

South India's '''Dravidian''' architecture is quite different from the rest of India. The most obvious, and often striking, feature is the '''''gopuram''''' perched on every temple entrance, a stepped, steeply rising pyramid carved with layer upon layer upon layer of fantastically detailed and brightly painted statues.

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Important historical temples include [[Mamallapuram]] (7-9th century) and [[Hampi]] (14-16th century),Jewish syngagoue in Kochi, while the busiest active pilgrimage sites today are [[Tirupati]], by some measures the entire world's busiest, and [[Madurai]], which has been operating continually for over 2,500 years.

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Important historical temples include [[Mamallapuram]] (7-9th century) and [[Hampi]] (14-16th century),Jewish synagogue in Kochi, while the busiest active pilgrimage sites today are [[Tirupati]], by some measures the entire world's busiest, and [[Madurai]], which has been operating continually for over 2,500 years.

===Itineraries===

===Itineraries===

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* ''vada'', fried Indian donut, but savoury and spiced.

* ''vada'', fried Indian donut, but savoury and spiced.

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All of these can be eaten with plain yogurt, and '''chutney''', a condiment that can be made from practically anything. South Indian cuisine is predominantly vegetarian, though [[Tamil Nadu|Chettinad]], [[Andhra Pradesh|Andhra]] and [[Kerala]] cuisines use meat heavily and are a lot more spicier. Coffee (''kaapi'' in Tamil) tends to replace tea in the south.

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All of these can be eaten with Sambhar, and '''chutney''', a condiment that can be made from practically anything. South Indian cuisine is predominantly vegetarian, though [[Tamil Nadu|Chettinad]], [[Andhra Pradesh|Andhra]] and [[Kerala]] cuisines use meat heavily and are a lot more spicier. Coffee (''kaapi'' in Tamil) tends to replace tea in the south.

A South Indian speciality is the '''banana leaf''' meal. This consists of steamed rice served with about two to six vegetable dishes like sambhar, porial (a dry stir-fried dish), ''rasam'' (a thin, peppery soup), ''koottu'' along with curd and buttermilk, all spread out on a disposable and environmentally-friendly banana leaf. For a non-vegetarian meal, curries or dishes cooked with mutton, chicken or fish are included. Meals are often accompanied by crisp appalams. Refills of curry and rice are often free, with men with buckets walking around to serve you more. After a final round of rice and curds or buttermilk or both, a traditional meal is concluded with a small banana and a few betel leaves and nuts. If served on a metal tray instead of a banana leaf, a set meal like this is known as a '''thali''' instead.

A South Indian speciality is the '''banana leaf''' meal. This consists of steamed rice served with about two to six vegetable dishes like sambhar, porial (a dry stir-fried dish), ''rasam'' (a thin, peppery soup), ''koottu'' along with curd and buttermilk, all spread out on a disposable and environmentally-friendly banana leaf. For a non-vegetarian meal, curries or dishes cooked with mutton, chicken or fish are included. Meals are often accompanied by crisp appalams. Refills of curry and rice are often free, with men with buckets walking around to serve you more. After a final round of rice and curds or buttermilk or both, a traditional meal is concluded with a small banana and a few betel leaves and nuts. If served on a metal tray instead of a banana leaf, a set meal like this is known as a '''thali''' instead.

Chennai (Madras) — Chennai is the City of Temples and the base of Dravidian art & culture. It is a major Auto hub of Asia producing 2 cars every minute.

Hyderabad — Pearl city of India, and part of Silicon Plateau with Bangalore

Coimbatore — Known as the Manchester of South India for its Textile capabilities, it is one of the premium educational hub of South Asia.

Kochi (Cochin) — the Queen of the Arabian Sea, one of the largest port city with a strong air of colonial European cultures and unlimited shopping.It has a variety of cultures to see. The old and new face of Kerala can be easily seen in Kochi.

Madurai — City famous for its Meenakshi Amman Temple, it was among the nominees for the new list of 7 wonders of the world for its architecture. The capital of 3000 years old Pandyan Empire.

Mysore — twin city of Bangalore. Famous for the Royal Palace, Brindavan Gardens

Pondicherry — French Enclave in India. Commonly known as "Peaceful Pondicherry"

Other destinations

Alappuzha — the gateway of Kerala Backwaters with amazing maze of backwaters, lagoons, rivers, canals. Known as Venice of East.

Kumarakom— the celebrated backwater retreat of India famous for its vast lagoons, bird sanctuaries and holiday houses.

Understand

One typically can understand by simple sights and sounds, the big air of difference between Southern Indian with rest of the parts of the country. The basic culture of south is essentially Dravidian culture, quite different from North India's Indo - East European culture. The people of South would remain down to earth, calm inspite of excellent talents. They respect every other's religion and sentiments unlike their Northern neighbours. Historians and Scholars across the world have always admired the culture and language of South India.

The South India has a glorious history of more than 3000 years. With advent of Aryan civilization in early BC centuries, much of the Dravidian civilizations (said to be even base for Indus Valley civilization) resided to southern India, which soon became a major Dravidian bastion. Though Hinduism remained as the invisible thread that connected North and South, much of the culture and outlook remained entirely different with both parts of the country, thanks the mighty Vindhya Ranges that could successfully prevent Northern cultural dominance into south untill Medieval periods.

The ancient history of South India was much attributed to large empires like the Hoysalas, Chalukyas, Gangas, Kadambas, Chola, Pandya and Chera, all hailing from similar roots. Whereas Cholas were more famous through its large empires, cultural monuments and navy which brought much of South East Asia under its domination, the popularity of other houses, Chera and Pandiyas were nevertheless. Cheras ruled much of the modern Kerala was extremely popular through its extensive trading relations with West, particularly Roman and Greek Empires as well as with Egyptians. Pandiyas were renowned for their cultural achievements, concenrated much of Southern Tamil Nadu. Towards early AD Centuries, several other Hindu Dynasties like Chalukyas, Vijayanagar Empire, Pallavas etc scrambled much of the Southern peninsula barring Kerala, which remained under Cheras.

Towards Medieval periods, Vijayanagar Empire became one of the largest empires covering two thirds of South India, particularly Karnataka and Andhara Pradesh with its capital at Hampi. The frequent attacks of Sultans of Delhi and other Northern Muslim states, slowly weakened the great Vijayanagara Empire, disintegrating it, giving raise of several Muslim states modelled on Northern Mughal styles in south. The growth of Portuguese, Dutch and other European powers, made South India, one of the major bases for European powers to fight for its share, in which British emerged victorious. British started their expansion into India setting up its base in Madras (Chennai) and slowly grew into a major power all over India. Barring a few Kingdoms like Travancore, Kochi, Mysore, Hyderabad and Coorg, most of the south Indian area came under British dominance by end of 19th century.

After Independence, South India remained one of the major economic powerhouse for the nation. Most of the south Indian cities are reputed for various industrial bases. The growth of the IT industry in cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Trivandrum, textiles in Coimbatore, Auto-manufacturing in Chennai, and Tourism and economy in Kerala, have contributed to the success of the South, and has propelled it as the leading region of the country.

Talk

One of the major differences between the South and the rest of India are the languages spoken. The four major languages, Kannada (in Karnataka), Malayalam (in Kerala), Tamil (in Tamil Nadu) and Telugu (in Andhra Pradesh) are all Dravidian languages entirely unrelated to the Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindi, spoken in the rest of the country, though they contain many loan words from Sanskrit. Even the scripts of all four languages, while originally Indic, have diverged quite radically from Devanagari.

As a rule, throughout the South, English is better understood than Hindi. The Tamils, in particular, have resented Delhi's occasional attempts to impose Hindi on them, and many will find it offensive if you try to talk to them in Hindi. Learning a few words of the local lingo, on the other hand, will go down a treat. Outside Tamil Nadu, Hindi is still usable as all educated people will have learnt Hindi in school, though it is not widely spoken in rural areas.

Get in

By plane

South India has more international airports than rest of India with regular connections to almost every corner of the world. Hyderabad & Chennai are the major air gateways into southern India, fielding flights from all over the world.Bangalore International Airport,Kochi international airport and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport are other airports after Chennai along with and has regular connections from Middle East and South East Asia as well as popular tourist oriented charters. Other popular options are , Kozhikode Airport, Trichy Airport, Mangalore Airport and Coimbatore Airport.

Get around

See

South India's Dravidian architecture is quite different from the rest of India. The most obvious, and often striking, feature is the gopuram perched on every temple entrance, a stepped, steeply rising pyramid carved with layer upon layer upon layer of fantastically detailed and brightly painted statues.

Important historical temples include Mamallapuram (7-9th century) and Hampi (14-16th century),Jewish synagogue in Kochi, while the busiest active pilgrimage sites today are Tirupati, by some measures the entire world's busiest, and Madurai, which has been operating continually for over 2,500 years.

Itineraries

Do

Eat

A selection of south Indian dishes

South Indian food is quite different from that elsewhere in the country, being mostly rice-based. They also make greater use of pulses. The typical meal is sambhar or koottu (a watery curry) with rice, or avial (mixed vegetables) with rice. There are regional variations too — the coastal regions make greater use of coconut and fish. In the State of Kerala, it is common to use grated coconut in everything and coconut oil for cooking, while someone from the interior could be surprised to learn that coconut oil, can in fact, be used for cooking. Anyway, all kinds of dishes from all parts of the world can be found in cities across South India. A variety of sea food fresh from the sea can be found in cities like Kochi & Chennai.

A very incomplete list of typical standalone Southern dishes, all of which are commonly eaten for breakfast:

idli, a spongy steamed cake made of lentils and rice

dosa, a thin, crispy pancake again made of lentils and rice. A highly popular variant involves stuffing the dosa with spiced potato mash and rolling it up to make masala dosa.

pongal, a sweetened rice dish with the consistency of firm porridge.

sevai, rice noodles, thin as vermicelli.

uttapam, fried pancake made from a lentil and rice batter, with onions and other vegetables mixed in.

vada, fried Indian donut, but savoury and spiced.

All of these can be eaten with Sambhar, and chutney, a condiment that can be made from practically anything. South Indian cuisine is predominantly vegetarian, though Chettinad, Andhra and Kerala cuisines use meat heavily and are a lot more spicier. Coffee (kaapi in Tamil) tends to replace tea in the south.

Lunch on a banana leaf (no rice added yet)

A South Indian speciality is the banana leaf meal. This consists of steamed rice served with about two to six vegetable dishes like sambhar, porial (a dry stir-fried dish), rasam (a thin, peppery soup), koottu along with curd and buttermilk, all spread out on a disposable and environmentally-friendly banana leaf. For a non-vegetarian meal, curries or dishes cooked with mutton, chicken or fish are included. Meals are often accompanied by crisp appalams. Refills of curry and rice are often free, with men with buckets walking around to serve you more. After a final round of rice and curds or buttermilk or both, a traditional meal is concluded with a small banana and a few betel leaves and nuts. If served on a metal tray instead of a banana leaf, a set meal like this is known as a thali instead.